Share this article

A Captcha is a type of challenge-response test used in computing as an attempt to ensure that the response is generated by a person.

The acronym, coined in 2000 by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, is based on the word 'capture' and stands for 'Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart'.

A common type of Captcha requires the user to type letters or digits from a distorted image that appears on the screen, and the tests are commonly used to prevent unwanted internet bots from accessing websites.

Are you human? The test was designed by Swedish campaign group
Civil Rights Defenders and draws from examples of incidents that breach
the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Devised by campaign group Civil Rights Defenders, an Swedish campaign group, the Civil Rights Captcha is intended to raise the profile of civil rights struggles worldwide.

'With over 200 million CAPTCHAs being solved everyday, we hope that by catching a tiny amount of those interactions we can help promote and empower our partners - brave human rights defenders, who often put themselves at great risk through their engagement for other people's rights,' they say.

Most of the situations presented by the Captcha are based on real events where the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been breached.

Civil Rights Defenders add that there is no content related to their work on the app that is based on their 'subjective and personal' values.

The app is available as free code for any web developer to use on their site.